Reporting someone for admissions fraud

[LaTristesseDureraEntre]

NC for this.

I've reported someone for admissions fraud/ giving a false address. Someone in my social circle. They've used their old home address for school applications, but that home is now a holiday let (they still own it) and they've moved down the road to a cheaper area. I sent the LA some info and will let them draw their own conclusions. I did it partly because it affects me/my family (in the obvious way - child in the same school year, tight catchment for desirable school). But tbh I find their behaviour awful so I imagine I'd have been minded to do it anyway.

AIBU? I know on MN the normal response is "keep your beak out" but, really, would you have kept quiet?

And no, before anyone starts, no “Ooh maybe child has special needs / husband is polygamous / there’s a special underground tunnel linking the two properties so that they are in fact one”. Just pure old address fakery. WIBU?

@Polyputthekettleon

I am guessing that the 40% who voted YABU are themselves inclined to commit the same fraud if they can do and want to, which is worrying.

I doubt it, but if that's true then behaviour which is so common should not be criminalised.

@TronDeReplay

which friend?! I get the feeling some people haven't actually read OP's posts and are imagining a scenario for themselves.

she said she was reporting someone in her friendship group.

I read one of your previous replies. Is there a problem with having EAL pupils at your child's school?

I hope your friend doesn't confide in you again. I don't necessarily agree with it but equally I can understand why she wants the best for her child.

I note how you've mentioned that she lives in a 'cheaper area' - I wonder if this is enough for her to be excluded from your social circle?

Sounds like you have delusions of grandeur.

But you do you!

@Polyputthekettleon

I am guessing that the 40% who voted YABU are themselves inclined to commit the same fraud if they can do and want to, which is worrying.

I don't think you can assume that at all. I haven't voted but if i did it would be yabu, but I wouldn't commit this sort of fraud myself.

Not doing it is different from thinking it is unreasonable for the OP to report it in these circumstances.

I don't think I'd want you as a "friend".

she said she was reporting someone in her friendship group.

No she didn't.
She also said "This isn’t a friend".

Your conclusion: it's the OP's friend.

I'm out - good luck OP, you true

@TronDeReplay sorry she said social circle not friendship group. to me social circle means friends, it might not to you though.

anyway, i am out now, hope I answered your questions to your satisfaction in the end.

oops! You tried to explain.

YANBU

I too live in a borough where every metre counts! You did the right thing. Every local authority has a clear admission procedure. There will be a section on address fraud stipulating which address should be used on your application. She is being a CF and I hope they investigate.

@3Daddy31982

I don't think I'd want you as a "friend".

I doubt she would want you if you were fiddling the system

no worries and I have just seen the later post you refer to - This isn’t a friend, it’s a woman where we’re on the periphery of one another’s friendship groups for lack of a better explanation. We all live in the same town, I know her to nod to because she’s friends with a friend of mine. Shared parties etc. She’s a bit loose-lipped and told a group of us about her school application and housing plans a while back, either intentionally or while moaning about her house renovation. Then mutual friend confirmed to me that she indeed applied to that school in the end - I know you have said you are out, but i just wanted to say anyway that this comes across as acting on little more than tittle tattle and i do not think that that is fair or reasonable. i realise that you disagree.

Thing is OP, you are right and righteous. But unfortunately you will realise as you get older that being honest, decent and doing the right thing is a mug's game. Up until a few years ago, I was honest, decent and always did the right thing. I got trampled on enough times that I'm fucked if I'll continue doing the right thing.

My friend's daughter started school. When it was time for their son to go, the school hadn't got a place for him. The children go to different primary schools. My friend and her DH both work full-time, the school run is a nightmare.

This is just one reason why it's not fair to cheat the system. Definitely right to report someone who does.

Good for you - it’s rife where we live and I does my head in!

I wouldn’t but don’t blame you. A couple I know have done this to get their child into an offsted “requires improvement school” because it’s where the father went. They travel an hour extra each way, each day

@QueenBee70

So becuase they have moved down the road to a ‘cheaper area’ their child shouldn’t be entitled to a decent education? Does that mean if you move during the course of your child’s education your child should be kicked out of school , or if they live in a ‘cheaper area’ they should should be excluded from attending better schools ? I know someone who this happened to whose child was adopted ( they get priority ) , and because they lived the wrong side of the bridge they thought they must have committed ‘fraud ‘. Talk about entitled and somewhat spiteful !

Would it have been a problem for you if your child had got a place I wonder ?

Actually I think you should have to leave if you move. I'd do it via Key Stages. So if you leave in Y7/8; your child has to leave at the end of KS3- 14? That way they go into their new, local school to do GCSE;s and the child of the family who now rent your second house (in desirable catchment...) gets to do GCSEs in the desirable school.

In what universe is that not reasonable?

YABU as you can't know for sure that they're not planning to move back if the child gets the place.

Yes it’s not great, but what outcome are you hoping for? They remove the children from the school, and they have to start somewhere new, mid term, no friends? That doesn’t sound a good outcome to me.

This is one of those things where I wouldn't say you were unreasonable for reporting it, nor for not reporting it.

Quite possibly, they understand the rules as written, planned to do this well in advance, and moved after the closing date for the applications, and are legally in the right. And they can prove this to the council if this is the case. Or not.

Morally, well, that is a different question. People with money or other advantages "play the system" on the right side of the rules quite a lot. They often don't think that is wrong, and want to do the best for their families.

I see no reason whatsoever why you should tell the people you reports that it was you who reported them, or feel guilty for doing so, or avoid socialising with them after doing so should you otherwise want to. You need to mentally move on from it now IMO.

I wouldn't do this as I would feel uncomfortable about it all even if rationally and probably morally it is thw correct thing to do. You don't know what else is going on in people's lives and also surely if it is in the expensive area the only people you are depriving are wealthy people. My DS knows a couple of peope that live very far away from his secondary school that is always oversubscribed in both cases they got the child in and moved to a more affordable area as they aren't as well off as many where the school is doorsteps away. They may have lived in two bedroom flats with two children for example but moved to a cheaper area for more space I.e a house.

Let’s hope karma dosnt bite you on the back and their dc gets a place over your dc based on their current address.

I have no problems reporting fraud, but I don’t agree with you sneakily reporting someone you say is a friend then acting all innocent and sympathetic to their faces, that just says way to much about what type of person you are and not someone to be trusted as a friend. This isn’t some thug or drug dealer your going to be in fear of, this is someone you know who your obviously comfortable lying to.

That’s a really shitty thing of you to do.

@WeddingHangover

That’s a really shitty thing of you to do.

And what do you think of the person committing fraud?

I used to manage a School Admissions Team and was the person who had to make the final decision on fraudulent applications. Most of the applications we investigated came in as a result of an anonymous tip off , sometimes more than one about the same parent. All,tip offs were investigated and in many cases the place was withdrawn. In a smaller number of cases this happened after the child had started at the school so they had to leave.

In the years I worked in Admissions I had to update the policy on fraudulent applications on almost an annual basis to take into account the different things parents would try to do. We also had addresses that we knew were rented out each year to get children into a very desirable school. In the OPs case we would not accept the address of a property that was not the primary residential address so would withdraw the place if offered or move the application to the correct admission category if before offer day.

@Qwill

Yes it’s not great, but what outcome are you hoping for? They remove the children from the school, and they have to start somewhere new, mid term, no friends? That doesn’t sound a good outcome to me.

Since OP seems to think it will increase the chances of her DC getting a place, I presume this is about stopping a fraudulent application from succeeding rather than getting a kid who’s already taken up a place kicked out.